Trump says, Court System. What Court System? Only Builder Forced Arbitration!In that speech, Trump asked members of the audience to raise their hands if they have been involved in any "frivolous" lawsuits. Few did, apparently, because Trump then said, "That's all? Not that many. Seriously? They're just embarrassed to raise their hands." But it also might be because  counter to Trump's suggestion that homeowners should be able to sue if the construction is shoddy  oftentimes homeowners are pushed to sign contracts with the builders that bar them from filing lawsuits. Instead, they're forced into third-party arbitration, which may not be appealed and is often kept confidential.

Do dues-paying members get higher grades than non-members? Many people think of the Better Business Bureau as a consumer watchdog, but a report by CNN Money finds the organization has given top ratings to companies that have faced action by government regulators and lawsuits by angry consumers... BBB also notes that it does not identify itself as a consumer watchdog, but rather as a mediator between businesses and consumers.

Consumer Financial Protection BureauBreaking news: CFPB study finds that mandatory pre-dispute arbitration clauses undermine consumers' rights by limiting class actions... The Bureaus report also found that more than 75 percent of consumers surveyed did not know whether they were subject to an arbitration clause in their agreements with their financial service providers, and fewer than 7 percent of those covered by arbitration clauses realized that the clauses restricted their ability to sue in court.

And the End of Small Claims Court

After a minor banking dispute in 2010 forced me to file a small claim, Citibank removed my small claim to private arbitration against my objections and in violation of my agreements and the arbitrators rules.I am sharing my story to help others...
Citibank removed my small claim to arbitration to avoid an undesirable but public outcome in small claims court  knowing full well the depth of the hole it was putting me in.

Memo to Big Banks: Don't Piss off Marching BandsUrge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to Stand Up to Wall Street and Defend Consumer Rights. The federal Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (CFPB) has the authority to restore our rights by
banning these predatory terms. Big Banks and powerful
financial institutions are using the fine print in the terms for
checking accounts, credit cards, prepaid cards, student loans and other
financial products to deny ripped-off consumers their constitutional
right to hold the banks accountable in court.

When the little guy gets shut out of courtThe trend toward mandatory arbitration clauses has been accelerating for years, but attempts to curtail it have run into an impenetrable roadblock from business interests that are understandably eager to stay out of court. Their point might be justified if the arbitration process was fair, transparent and accountable. It is not.

Consumer advocates: Fine print could rob consumers of right to sueConsumer advocates warn that a provision in an increasing number of consumer contracts robs consumers of their basic right to sue. Greg Cole said he was forced into arbitration when his homebuilder, John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods, wouldn't fix construction mistakes to his home in a development in East Cobb. Cole said cracks in walls and ceilings caused leaks that created a mold problem that sickened his family.

CFPB Monitor - FTC files amicus challenging arbitration
provision
Last year, the DOJ filed an
amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in American
Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant in support of the
merchants who were challenging the class action waiver in American Express
arbitration agreement. (The Supreme Court ruled against the merchants in
a 5-3 decision.)

Another Blow to Class ActionThis week, the Supreme Court continued its aggressive effort to favor corporationsby forcing customers to raise grievances through individual arbitration rather than a class action or some other joint legal challenge...The decision makes it very hard, if not impossible, to stop bad corporate practices because the potential award for an individual would be too small to justify a suit.

Forced Arbitration: Killing the Right to Sue Big Companies, One TOS Agreement at aTimeSo-called forced arbitration clauses say that in the event of a dispute, you won't be able to file a class-action suit. Instead, your dispute will be settled one-on-one in a private arbitration forum. These clauses are commonly inserted into terms of service agreements, which you must agree to if you want to use the product or service. For years, this practice was prohibited by law in many states. But in 2011 the Supreme Court ruled inAT&T Mobility v. Concepcionthat all state laws prohibiting forced arbitration clauses are preempted by the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act. And that opened the floodgates.

SEC's Aguilar Calls for End to Mandatory Arbitration ClausesSuch clauses, which are standard in brokerage contracts and often included by registered investment advisers, require any client claim of losses to be settled in binding arbitration instead of the courts. "Investors should not have their option of choosing between arbitration and the traditional judicial process taken away from them at the very beginning of their relationship with their brokers and advisers," Securities and Exchange Commission member Luis Aguilar said in prepared remarks for the North American Securities Administrators Association's annual conference in Washington on Tuesday."By providing investors with the ability to choose the forum in which to bring their legal claims and protect their legal rights, we enhance investor protection and add more teeth to our federal securities laws."